Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends [Paperback]

Nancy Kress (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0898799058 | ISBN-13: 978-0898799057 | Publication Date: March 15, 1999

Get your stories off to a roaring start. Keep them tight and crisp throughout. Conclude them with a wallop.

Is the story or novel you've been carrying around in your head the same one you see on the page? Or does the dialogue suddenly sound flat and predictable? Do the events seem to ramble?

Translating a flash of inspiration into a compelling story requires careful crafting. The words you choose, how you describe characters, and the way you orchestrate conflict all make the difference - the difference between a story that is slow to begin, flounders midway, or trails off at the end - and one that holds the interest of readers and editors to the final page.

By demonstrating effective solutions for potential problems at each stage of your story, Nancy Kress will help you...

• hook the editor on the first three paragraphs
  
  
• make - and keep - your story's "implicit promise"
  
  
• build drama and credibility by controlling your prose

Dozens of exercises help you strengthen your short story or novel. Plus, you'll sharpen skills and gain new insight into...

• the price a writer pays for flashbacks
  
  
• six ways characters should "reveal" themselves
  
  
• techniques for writing - and rewriting

Let this working resource be your guide to successful stories - from beginning to end.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Although she began by writing fantasy, Nancy Kress currently writes science fiction, most usually about genetic engineering. She teaches regularly at summer conferences such as Clarion, and during the year at the Bethesda Writing Center in Bethesda, Maryland. In addition, she is the "Fiction" columnist for Writer's Digest magazine. She has won two Nebulas and a Hugo, and lost over a dozen more of these awards. Her work has been translated into Swedish, French, Italian, German, Spanish, began by writing fantasy, among others. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 149 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898799058
• ISBN-13: 978-0898799057
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Helpful, Very Practical, No Nonsense, December 16, 2001

By 

A. Wolverton (Crofton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Paperback)

After reading "Beginnings, Middles and Ends," any beginning writer will have many of the tools needed to put together a good story or novel. Kress takes the reader through a step-by-step process that makes you think, "It's so simple. Why didn't I think of that?" It's so simple because Kress has expertly targeted the areas that most writers have trouble with and has offered workable solutions. Her writing is very clear and readable. The examples and exercises alone are worth the price of the book. If you are interested in writing fiction and can only buy one book, this is the one.

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to write, you need this book, August 14, 2002

By 

chemikalguy "chemikalguy" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Paperback)

The further into this book I read, the more impressed I become with Nancy Kress.

Many people don't understand the mechanics involved in writing a story. She "sits" the reader down and explains the best way to start a story from the first sentence. She then goes into the first scene, and even into the second scene! She explains the things necessary to include in a good opening, and also gives examples of poor ones. I find this approach to be the best way to hammer home the ideas.

She then goes into 'middles,' and later 'ends' of stories, and explains the best ways not to [upset] off your reader, by having a story, for example, where you spend six hundred pages falling in love with the main character, only to have him killed off on the last page for no reason. You pulled the old "bait and switch"!Your next book, having not even been published, just lost a reader!

I would rather have this book, than almost any other in my rather large collection.

78 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best in this series, July 4, 2000

By 

Eldonna Bouton "http://www.whole-heart.com" (author of, "Journaling from the Heart.") - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Paperback)

My favorite in this series, this book is the definitive source in describing how important each part of your book is to the overall story. I ended up re-writing the first three chapters of my novel based on the author's excellent advice. She gives specific examples of how to grab the reader from the very first sentence, keep him/her reading the first few pages, and holding their attention all the way to the climax. A must for any writer's library.